No2UbiDRM Campaign
Created in 2011, the "No2UbiDRM" Campaign was a hash tag created by Dan to discourage Ubisoft from using DRM, Digital Rights Management, in their future games, citing that DRM, "... is merely an obstacle that they will vault over a few weeks in to release while your true honest fans are completely tripped over by it." To further help solidify his point, Dan released a document that he encouraged people to mail to Ubisoft's CEO, Yves Guillemont. The campaign was originally spread on The Escapist's Gaming Forum and encouraged people to physically mail the document signed with your name. The Document "Mr. Yves Guillemot Chairman and CEO, Ubisoft Entertainment. 28 rue Armand Carrel 93 108 Montreuil Sous Bois Cedex Dear Mr. Guillemot This letter, and hopefully many more like it, is proving a point. A point that we, the gaming community, feel like we need to urgently make. You may not know this Mr. Guillemot, but we feel completely betrayed by you and your company. You see, early this year you turned off what is rightly thought to be the worst Digital Rights Management of all time. As you know, Assassin's Creed II needed a constant internet connection to be able to play any part of the game. If the connection dropped then the player was thrown back to the menu and their progress was lost. On top of this if the player's or your own servers were down then the game couldn't be played. A game that the player physically owns and legally bought couldn't be played unless your servers said they could. That isn't stopping piracy. That's encouraging it. Here are the two scenarios you are offering with this DRM system. One: A game that costs £50, has to be bought from a shop, has DRM that renders it occasionally unplayable and every now and then throws you out of the game to the menu. Two: A game that is free, can be downloaded 24/7 and is totally DRM free. In an interview about this DRM you claim it gave three advantages to the player. The player doesn't need a disc, the player can install the game on as many PCs as they like and that saves are automatically saved to your servers. Well, the first two are the same as the pirated version and the third is only really an advantage in exceptional circumstances. Your DRM offers the pirates no reason to pay for the game and plenty of reasons for an honest gamer not to. DRM is merely an obstacle that they will vault over a few weeks in to release while your true honest fans are completely tripped over by it. There is a simple way to fix this. Make your DRM positive instead of negative. Why not have exclusive content that you can only get from a Ubisoft server if you have a legitimate game copy? Maybe you could just ditch DRM entirely and let Steam take care of it for you. Or how about you completely ditch digital content and offer something physical. What if Assassin's Creed III came with a richly detailed cloth map in the box as standard? I think that would be enough to turn some people's heads. Anyway, these are merely suggestions. I honestly don't know business but I do know what I, and so many others like me, want. We want to be treated well for spending our hard earned money on your games. We want to be rewarded. Your current system treats us like we are constantly guilty and never innocent. It never trusts us and as a result we no longer trust you. Until this DRM is removed from all Ubisoft games and better alternatives are used I declare that I will be boycotting your games and urging others to do the same. Sincerely, (Name Here) PS. To see reactions to your DRM please check the hashtag #no2ubiDRM on twitter." Category:Miscellaneous